Therapy?
by They're twitterpated
Summary: After three years Derek and Casey still can't seem to get along. In a last-ditch attempt to create one big happy family, or at least get some peace and quiet in the house, Nora suggests they try something new. Dasey!
1. Chapter 1

I'm back with a story I had been working on a little while ago and finally got around to editing. From the looks of my outline this is going to be quite a few chapters, if I ever have enough time to finish it, so leave a review and let me know what you think! Enjoy :)

Disclaimer, I don't own Life with Derek.

Chapter 1

Derek and Casey are in the kitchen, which is inconveniently directly above Nora's bedroom. She can hear the loud rumbling voices and harsh thuds on her ceiling. It's like living beneath a martial arts studio. She tries to roll over and ignore them. After continuous morning sickness she'd been placed on bed rest just to be on the safe side considering her age. She's supposed to be relaxing. Ha, the doctor clearly did not understand that she already has five children, two of which provide more stress than any client at work ever could. At work people at least pretend to be civilized. Her house was like lord of the flies. She places a pillow over her head and it seems like that might be just enough to drown them out until, "Der-ek!"

Nora stomps up the stairs to find Casey is standing there in a wet, white, now see-through, t-shirt and Derek is red-handed with the spray handle of the sink still in his grasp. Casey has a vicious glare on her face and her arms are crossed along her chest pushing her breasts up and together, which becomes noticeable due to the whole wet t-shirt contest of 1. A sly smirk is on Derek's face, it's mostly due to winning the fight, a little bit because of how red her face has gotten, and barely at all because of the almost nakedness of his step sister. Her states of undress don't affect him at all, like when she wore that babe raider outfit for example (boys were, for some crazy reason, following her around the school like lost horny puppies, but not Derek. Unless it was to chase them off. But that's different.)

"That's it. Both of you need to leave, now." Nora shouts. Reasoning with them has failed to work, so she's taking up a new approach.

"What?" they say in unison. Even though they can never seem to get along or agree on anything they are peculiarly in sync.

"We aren't even a week into summer vacation and I can't take your fighting anymore. If I have to listen to this for the next 3 months I'll go crazy, so until I come up with a more permanent solution, both of you need to leave." Nora concludes.

Derek was about to say something, but before a wise remark could slip from his mouth Nora tossed out an irrefutable offer, "No curfew."

"I'm out. See ya Nora, enjoy your peace and quiet." And the door slammed behind the blur of Derek. She's been a little wishy-washy lately, pregnancy hormones and all, so he wants to go before she changes her mind.

"I'm sorry mom. I know this is rough on you. I'll just be five minutes to get changed. I mean, I can't leave the house like this." Casey motions to herself before rolling her eyes and walking up the stairs.

She wonders if they'll ever stop acting like four year olds, pouting and whining and splashing each other and throwing hissy fits, and more pressingly, she wonders if there's anything she can do to fix it.

Derek comes home late that night, but it doesn't stop him from arguing with Casey bright and early the next morning. He'd gone to a party, because the great thing about summer is that even on a Thursday night people still want to get drunk and make out with random strangers. And the great thing about having failed grade one is that he is already 19 and doesn't have to go through the effort of finding someone to go on a liquor run for him anymore. He'd drank more rum than he should have (arguably, at least that's what the naggy little (familiar) voice in his head was saying when he did that fifth shot) and he'd found a pretty blonde to distract himself with but when it came time to get to the really fun stuff Derek insisted that he couldn't sneak her into his room (which is probably true. Casey would/might/could have caught him) and she was in town visiting some relatives, so they parted ways and he walked home alone.

Casey, of course, had been home before their curfew because it seemed unfair to take advantage of her mother's desperate allowance. She had only gone over to Emily's house anyway. She hadn't been on a date since she'd finally ended things with Truman and she was okay with that. She didn't need to rush into something right now. She would be leaving in a few months and in September there'd be a whole new group of possible suitors, intelligent young men studying to be lawyers or guys who appreciated theatre and were majoring in creative writing. Now was the time to focus on herself, and with that in mind she woke up at 7am for a jog followed by a short workout in her room. Per usual Casey put on a bouncy pop playlist to encourage herself, but only got to the second song and her third set of squats before Derek burst through her door.

"Casey! No. No more." He moaned desperately as he unplugged the music.

"Der-ek!" she growled and he cover his ears. He could not handle that today. Or her girly music, which frustrated him at the best of times. Only whispering would be permitted until his head stopped pounding.

"Shhh." He whined and she gazed at him critically. Derek was one of the loudest people she knew (voice, music, making midnight snacks when she was sleeping) so this sudden request for quiet was suspicious. He looked disheveled and tired and she didn't hear him get in last night, so she knows it must have been pretty late.

"Are you hung over?" she accuses in a low incredulous tone. It's not nice, but at least she's keeping the volume to a minimum. Of course it's not for his benefit, or at least not his moody alcohol induced state, but to keep any parents or, more likely, spying siblings from overhearing them.

He rolls his eyes at her and she takes it as a yes. "It's not a crime to have a little fun Casey."

"Well just because you can't take care of your body does not mean that I shouldn't take care of mine!" she snaps, and both suddenly become very aware that Casey's body is covered by only a tiny pair of her black shorts and a neon pink sports bra. Derek is trying not to _look_ and she helps his cause by quickly spinning away from him, even though she turns the music back on, and louder.

"Casey!" he yells, and the argument is about to continue until they hear, "Derek, Casey!" being yelled from the kitchen.

Nora can hear the low rumble of the teenagers arguing and pop music unceremoniously starting and stopping from all the way upstairs, presumably in Casey's bedroom, because that certainly isn't Derek's loud music.

As Derek barrels down the stairs he tosses his coat on. "Let me just get out of your way. Don't wait up." he says casually.

"No, no, no. Both of you in here." She replies quickly before Derek can get out the door again.

Casey's grabbed the back of his collar to prevent a feigned accidental escape and she hears Derek let out a surprised yelp.

"It's been three years and you still can't manage to act like part of a family, so if you two can't work it out yourself, like we have been leniently allowing you to do, or not do, all this time, we're going to have to take a different approach." Nora scolds the two almost adults in front of her.

"What does that mean?" Casey asked with hesitation. She doubted that there was any method which could cause their tension to disappear and she worried her mother might be so overtired that she'd suggest something crazy like locking them up in a room together until they became friends.

"You're going to therapy. Together." Nora announces. After a day of teenager free brainstorming she'd reached this tentative solution. She thought it might be a little extreme, so she hadn't actually mentioned it to George last night, but hearing them fighting again, less than 12 hours since their last fight and within the first hour they were both awake and under the same roof she realized that drastic measures needed to be taken.

"No, no. I unlike spacey over here do not need therapy" Derek responds instantly.

"Mom Derek is right, therapy would be a waste of time for him. You need to actually have thoughts and feelings in order to solve your problems" Casey contributes to their mutual cause so Derek doesn't even argue or volley back an insult in return.

"No! It's final. Next Wednesday at 4pm, and because I don't trust you both to actually attend I'm going to drive you there and pick you up when you're done" Nora states. It isn't a conversation, it's a sentence.

"Like children." Casey scoffs.

"Well if you're going to act like it," her mother countered.

"Junior high date style." Derek comments with a sarcastic nod of approval before Casey slaps him on the shoulder.

"So touchy. Gotta wait until afterwards to have your way with me. I'm a lady like that." He joked, getting in her personal space just a little bit.

"Der-ek!" she exclaimed as a red flush covered her face. Nora noted that their childish behaviour came in a slightly more adult themes lately, but they were eighteen and she supposed it was to be expected. She'd even heard Lizzie make a sex joke the other day… of course not directed toward a sibling. And why was Casey always half naked? The summer hadn't been that nice. She didn't want to think about her kids as adults who were doing adult things, so she repeated "4pm Wednesday" before walking back downstairs.


	2. Chapter 2

I realize it has been a very long time since I started this story, but I really love the concept and do want to try and finish it this summer! Leave a review and let me know what you think! Hope some of you are still out there and interested in reading it! :)

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 **chapter 2**

Derek and Casey got along (or appeared to get along) especially well for the next four days. It was a result of their intensive efforts, copious glares, and shoves when the adults weren't looking (which went without the usual tattling or complaint). And as peaceful as it was, Nora knew that they couldn't last the summer like this. The happy brother-sister thing was clearly an act, and not only was she sure that they could only keep it up for a few more days before someone snapped (it could be either, it had become apparent that their tempers were quiet similar, and required minimal provoking when it came to the other) but she realized the kids genuinely needed to work out whatever their problems were. Sure, they were leaving for university soon, but they were family. There would be holidays, summers, and special occasions for years to come, and they needed at the very least to be civil, preferably they could learn to get along like all the other kids had done. She was hopeful, because she knew deep down they did care for each other as they had discreetly showed over the years.

Derek and Casey got along (or appeared to get along) especially well for the next four days. It was a result of their intensive efforts, copious glares, and shoves when the adults weren't looking (which went without the usual tattling or complaint). And as peaceful as it was, Nora knew that they couldn't last the summer like this. The happy brother-sister thing was clearly an act, and not only was she sure that they could only keep it up for a few more days before someone snapped (it could be either, it had become apparent that their tempers were quiet similar, and required minimal provoking when it came to the other) but she realized the kids genuinely needed to work out whatever their problems were. Sure, they were leaving for university soon, but they were family. There would be holidays, summers, and special occasions for years to come, and they needed at the very least to be civil, preferably they could learn to get along like all the other kids had done. She was hopeful, because she knew deep down they did care for each other as they had discreetly showed over the years.

So on Tuesday night, right after they both volunteered to do the dishes, Casey tried to casually bring up how well they've been getting along. She had been unanimously nominated as most likely to get them out of this cruel and terrible punishment, and while Casey did have "parent approved" stamped on her forehead, that charm didn't work in her own house, and her attempts at subtlety came off as abrupt and mildly tactless. The table quickly reconsidered the teens' approach and decided that Derek would have been better suited for the schmoozy task at hand. Their miscalculation was only confirmed when Nora declared that they would still be attending therapy tomorrow. Derek's head flopped down onto the kitchen table as he emitted a low growling noise for an impressively long time (Marti starting pressing on his cheeks to make the sound change and Derek expectedly played along) and Casey did the dishes by herself, but she didn't mind so much when he was being such a good brother. She had to admit, he had his moments. 

"Try to get along. Or at least don't terrorize the poor man, he's a friend of a friend and he's doing me a favour by taking you guys." Nora reiterated the running theme of "Don't make us look like bad parents" as Casey was getting out of the car and Derek was decidedly not.

"Well in that case I think it's probably best if I just don't go, right Casey?" he offered but both women glared at him. Nora was about to say something in an attempt to get him out of the back seat but when Casey began to talk she quickly shut her mouth. If anyone was going to convince Derek to do something he didn't want to, it was Casey.

"No way, if I have to do this so do you." She growled before opening the door of the car and physically pulling him out.

"Okay, okay." He yelped with his hands up in fake surrender. Nora's almost hesitant to send them in like this, all riled up for a fight, but she supposes he should see them at their worst if things are ever going to get better.

"Please behave." She calls as they walk into the building but they aren't listening to her. They are already saying something to each other is sharp hushed tones and it's clear that they are oblivious to the rest of the world. 

They're sitting on a couch which seems disproportionately small in this spacious office with the floor to ceiling windows. The couch doesn't just seem small, it is. Derek and Casey's arms and legs keep accidentally touching as soon as they stop holding themselves at weird angles to prevent it.

The man sitting in front of them smiles in a way that Derek assumes is meant to be reassuring and personable. He'd introduced himself as Dr. Miller and told them they could call him by his first name, John, if they preferred. Derek didn't want to call him John, as if they were buddies or something, and the last name Miller was all too familiar so Derek quickly decided he would simply call him Dr. M. With the precursory introductions out of the way Dr. M decided to waste no time with the pair on his couch, "So Nora told me about your fighting, and teasing, and general inability to get along, but what's really important to me is what you two think of your relationship, so Derek, how about you start. Do you think there's a problem in your relationship with Casey, what it is?"

"We fight?" he answers in question form because he thought that was obvious, they had even fought in the lobby before the session started. Casey rolled her eyes at him. He already knew he was in for trouble.

"Okay, what about?" he asked in hopes of getting the young man to open up.

"Everything?" Derek said simply.

"Okay, why?" he pushed on. He was going to get more than a two word answer from Derek.

"Isn't that what we're paying you for?" Derek responded with a tilt of his head and a smirk. It wasn't helpful, but at least he was learning more about Derek. He figured as much from the moment he walked in that he would have that cool guy sarcasm and act of invincibility.

"Right." The man replied nodding before turning his attention to the girl on the couch who was staring at him attentively, "Casey, do you have any insight?"

"I guess Derek and I are just very different people and we're around each other all the time so there's a great deal of opportunity for our personalities clash." She answered with a shrug.

"Okay, that's a good start." He responded. Clearly she was the less difficult of the two. It was important to get a feel for the clients' personalities in order to provide effective sessions.

"Casey, I want you to describe yourself in five words and write them down on this white board. Derek, I want you to write the five words that you think, from your own perspective, describe Casey's personality." He explained passing the markers and boards to the teens.

The two scribbled down words and Derek kept sneaking glances at the therapist, who continued to affirm that "this should be your genuine opinion, there's no wrong answer". When the markers stopped moving he gave them a nod and both of the teens flipped their whiteboards around.

"Okay, so Casey has, intelligent, artistic, caring, ambitious, organized. And Derek wrote, controlling, perfectionist, uptight, needy, reliable." Dr. M read aloud and before he could provide instruction to facilitate communication on this activity he was interrupted.

"I am not needy!" she yelped quickly, turning to Derek even though they were only inches apart.

"Yes, you are. You swap from guy to guy immediately and if there's even the slightest sign that they aren't 100% dedicated to you, you freak out." He replied.

"I don't mean to be like that. In fact I've already decided that now that Truman and I have broken up I'm not going to date all summer." She informed him and he laughed aloud.

"Yeah right. The next boy who even glances in your direction will end up having page after boring page written about him in your diary. 'Dear diary, a boy smiled at me today, I think I might be in love!'" he mocked her in return and her eyes narrowed at him.

"Der-ek!" she shouted, but it didn't deter him. Dr. M began to think that might be a regular occurrence.

"His glasses made him look intelligent and mysterious, so who cares if he treats me well!" Derek said in a high pitched voice that everyone knew didn't sound like Casey, but the accuracy of the impression wasn't really the point.

"Der-ek!" she yelled again, and that seemed like an appropriate time to cut in.

"Okay, it sounds like maybe you have some genuine concerns about who Casey chooses to date." Dr. M interjected, trying to make this somewhat productive. They didn't need an audience for their bickering, they needed a solution.

"Well she dates jerks…" Derek responded in a gruff tone, rolling his eyes before quickly adding, "and then I have to hear her complain about it non-stop. If you want a guy who's going to take you out to a nice dinner and call you when he says he will then you have to date nice guys."

Casey rolled her eyes in return giving him a look of indignation, "I think you should keep your opinions about my personal relationships to yourself, which you never do." She responded bitterly. He was getting the feeling that something was off from the way Derek was staring at her.

"Okay, maybe we need to work on establishing boundaries. I can see why that might be a little bit unclear considering your families joined so late in your lives. We'll return to that during our sessions." He offered, before continuing the activity they had started, "But since we want to establish a relationship of reciprocity how about we switch and look at Derek."

Casey uses the little eraser at the top of the marker to erase the words while Derek smudges it all with his hand before quickly writing down some new words. Casey takes a little bit longer and Derek taps his foot impatiently, "I know, it's impossible to describe Derek Venturi in 5 words, but I'll understand if handsome and amazing aren't on there." He comments with a teasing grin, causing Casey to finish her list quickly and turn the board to face Derek with a glare.

"Resourceful, charming, funny, alpha, relaxed," the therapist reads off of Derek's board, and then has to ask Casey to turn hers so that he can read it.

"Lazy, domineering, sweet (with his little sister), arrogant, selfish." Derek smirks at her when the word 'sweet' is read and she underlines the words in brackets with her finger. He shrugs and Casey wipes the words away with her thumb.

"Okay, so I'm getting the sense that Derek's laid back attitude often causes tensions with Casey's more structured style of doing things. And then there's the control issues. Both of you described both yourself and the other with leadership words, regardless of the positive or negative connotations attached to them. So I think we're going to take this little personality test so that we can work on some communication techniques for the two of you to use when you have a problem. And for homework this week I want you to both to make a list of things you dislike about the other" the therapist summarizes, trying to keep their attention as they continue to smirk, glare, and mime things to each other silently.

"Yeah, no, that sounds like something I'm gonna get in shit for." Derek says and Dr. M is almost relived to hear he'd been listening at all so he acknowledges Derek's concern by stating, "completely exempt from any disciplinary actions."

Derek considers this briefly and nods his head, "Well I'm game, but it might hurt Casey's feewings." He mocks, giving her wide eyes and a pout.

"I could name things I hate about you in my sleep, and I can handle whatever kind of nonsense insults you have, I mean I've survived the past 3 years of living with you." She snaps back at him and gives him a slight shove. When he rights himself he's leaning just a little bit closer to her than he had been before.

"So the catch is, for every dislike you list you also have to come up with one thing you like about the other person." Dr. M explains and they both give him a disappointed glance.

"Well this list just got much shorter." Derek muttered and Casey simply nodded along.

"Five things is a completely normal and acceptable amount. It's a good way for us to lay ground work. It'll help me to realize what we are working with and what we need to improve on. And I'll be the only one to read them, so be honest." He elaborated.

"Isn't the point of this exercise supposed to be telling each other things we like about them? If you don't read them what'll it accomplish?" Casey quickly interjected.

"No Casey, the point of therapy is for the two of you to connect. If I have to do it for you it isn't the same. This exercise is for each of you to reflect on your relationship." He explained and Derek unexpectedly added, "Yeah Casey, listen to the teacher," solely for the purpose of annoying her, which it did. "Gosh, today's youth think they know it all." He said turning to Dr. M with a smirk in place. Casey kicked him in response and Dr. M ushered them out of the office, reminding them to schedule their next appointment with the secretary on the way out.


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, so I'm not as happy with this chapter as the 2 previous ones but I didn't want to abandon the story (Thanks to all of your lovely reviews! Who knew so many people still liked dasey :p) So let me know what you think(I'm in love with your reviews!), I have some better stuff coming up!

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At dinner that night they manage to get more than halfway through the meal before Nora cautiously brings up their session. Derek figures the children must have been under direct orders not to ask about it because judging by the way they all look between the two oldest children now they are obviously interested.

"Fine," Derek mumbles with a mouthful of mashed potatoes. Casey makes a disgusted look and he smiles at her. She turns to her mother saying, "It was okay. Dr. M is nice." Casey also makes a mental note to add, "complete lack of table manners" to her dislikes list.

Everyone wants to hear more about therapy, but no one knows quite what to ask. Marti appears bored with the quiet lull at the table and enthusiastically shares the details of her play date next door. Both children are relieved when the topic of conversation never returns to their session.

While Derek dreads completing their assignment and has decided to put it off until the night before, as he always does with homework, casey gets started that night. She figures it will be easy. She'll spend twenty minutes on it now and she'll be able to get a few more job applications out before it's time for bed. She writes like and dislike at the top of the page and draws a line between them to create two neat columns. She quickly lists five dislikes, and then moves on to the likes. Suddenly she's stuck. She knows Derek annoys the hell out of her, but surely she can name five somewhat redeeming qualities about him. She again thinks of marti, the way he played along with her antics at the table earlier this week, or chatted along with her tonight about turning dimi into a frog. She thinks of marti's wild imagination and realizes Derek has that same creativity, but has simply redirected his efforts into lies and pranks. Sometimes he uses his powers for good, she concedes, thinking of the year they celebrated derekus. She begrudgingly remembers that is was fun. Then she thinks of their fight in the bathroom, of them sneaking out, of d-rock. She thinks of the ways he makes her have fun, even when she doesn't want to, even if it's just to prove herself to him. He has this way about him, that just being with him makes you feel free. She imagines everyone must feel that way about him, she decides it must be why he's so popular. There's something about his confidence and self assuredness that she admires, even if she'd never admit it. Mostly she'd call him an arrogant jerk, and it wouldn't be untrue, but she thinks of the complete makeovers she's gone through over the past three years, first with Trevor and the punk rock look, then with max and the cheerleader varsity jacket thing, then with Truman and the partying in too short skirts. Derek would never change who he was for a date. She wonders if maybe it's just a guy thing, but she writes it down anyway. Content with her efforts and uninterested in falling down this avenue of thought any longer she folds up the paper and pins it to her corkboard above her desk.

She thinks she's done with her assignment, but over the following days she continues to edit her list. Like when she was watching TV in the living room and he suddenly changed the channel she wrote thoughtless. But when she needed to get to a job interview on Sunday he said his plans had changed and she could take the car, even though she saw him walking home from Smelly Nelly's later that afternoon, so she crossed it out. She doesn't really know why she keeps doing this or who she's documenting these things for, but she keeps noticing things about him and feels obligated to make her list accurate as possible, good things and bad things.

All week he's watched her taking notes on him, as if they haven't lived together for years, as if she's just realizing these things about him. It's kind of annoying to him, honestly, because he knows Casey inside and out. He could write this list in his sleep, which is why he hasn't worried about putting it off for so long. He's still not worried when he stumbles home from a party, excusing himself from the persistent pawing of an underdressed hot blonde because he has homework to finish. He grabs a piece of paper and a pen off his desk and begins to write dislikes, for the sake of appearances mostly. These come to him easily. He's only called her all of these things a million times, it's well rehearsed. Bossy. Nag-y. Needy. Prissy. Klutzilla (he can't help himself, and drunkenly chuckles, not considering the fact that the inside joke won't mean anything to their therapist). Too worried about other people's opinions. Desperate for boys attention. Never willing to break the rules.

Then he switches to likes. Also easy. His mind is swirling with a million memories of Casey. Normally he'd stop himself but today he doesn't, it's doctor's orders after all. Argues with me, smart, helps me, cares about our family, feisty, dedicated, good dancer, beautiful, blue eye shadow.

He pats himself on the back (literally) for a job well done. He has 8 in each category and it only took him five minutes while drunk, not a whole week while sober. He throws the list beside him and quickly falls asleep.

When he looks at the list again, finding it between his crumbled sheets, he realizes that doing their therapy homework drunk is a no-no. He definitely needs to cross some of these out, because beyond the fact that the last three on the likes list are entirely inappropriate there should be just five, because he ought not to have more than five good things to say about her. He grabs a pen while Nora is yelling for them to hurry up, and before he has a chance to fix it Casey barges into his room. He shoves the paper into his pocket instantly as she looks at him expectantly and says, "Come on."

"Have fun." Nora says optimistically as she parks the car in front of the large brick building. The two teens crawl out of the back seat with only minimal scuffling and under the breath muttering. Why they both chose to sit in the back seat remains unanswered, but Nora tries not to ask too many questions when they're quiet and the ride over was about as peaceful as a 10-minute car ride with Derek and Casey could be. Casey had accused him of not having done their first assignment when she saw him pulling a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket along with a pen but he quickly flashed the half-filled page in front of her face, and despite the fact that it was too quick for her to read it stopped the accusations. It didn't stop Derek from staring at the page and scribbling at it for the entire ride however.

"But not to much fun, right?" he replies throwing an arm around Casey and wiggling his eyebrows cartoon style. Nora just rolls her eyes, but Casey makes a gagging sound while she pushes him off of her. Derek slams the door to the car and rushes to catch up to Casey who's causally holding open the front door. For two people who claim to hate each other Nora can't help but notice that they really don't. She's optimistic that this therapy will bring some kind of peace to the house, and at the least she's going to enjoy a nap in this hour of guaranteed peace.


	4. Chapter 4

Alright, the story continues. This chapter is extra long for anyone kind enough to stick around! I also have the next chapter written, it only needs to be edited, so I hope to post it early next week! Thank you all for the support on this story, I promise to finish it, so keep reviewing and make me feel guilty about the accidental hiatus. Enjoy!

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"So, how'd you find your exercise this week?" Dr. M asks the two teens sitting in front of him.

"Meh", "Fine," The teens muttered, passing the doctor their papers. Casey's was neatly folded, having been pulled out of a small agenda in her purse, and Derek's was a wrinkled mess. He didn't let that bother him though, he was pleased that they had completed their assignments at all. Unfortunately conversation wasn't off to a great start today. He knew that once they started talking they hardly stopped to breathe, it was just a matter of finding the on switch.

"Let's start this week with a game." He ventured. Luckily it wasn't a competitive game. Even though he had never witnessed their competitive nature he could guess as much that board games nights were indefinitely postponed in the Macdonald Venturi house.

Casey and Derek had expected some kind of therapy game, involving feelings and perhaps tactics that Freud would have used, but instead Dr. M tossed them a hair elastic. Derek raised his eyebrows before swiftly commenting "I told you you looked like a mess," to Casey, who grumbled "Der-ek" before looking back to the man sitting in front of them for an explanation.

"Casey, put the band around your left wrist." He said and waited for her to suspiciously follow his instruction. "Now Derek, slide your right wrist through the elastic." He continued, and Derek looked at him wide eyed.

"You're handcuffing us?" he asked and Casey reflexively pulled her wrist closer to her body.

"When you finish the puzzle you're free." He said, sliding an actual puzzle box across the table in front of them. It was a boring scene of some imaginary cottage cut up into 50 pieces. This was a good way to force communication and cooperation, both of which they desperately needed to work on. In addition it gave him a few minutes to review their lists during the session.

"Let's get this over with then," Derek complied unsurprisingly quickly and reached for Casey's wrist, which she begrudgingly stuck out. Casey slowly reached for the box on the table and took the lid off, before Derek tipped the box upside-down and dumped the contents out, spilling pieces across the table and onto the floor. He watched them briefly, muttering in hushed tones, and then opened the crumpled paper he had laid on his lap. Despite the fact that the list is basically an illegible disaster one thing is perfectly clear, Derek Venturi does not hate Casey Macdonald. He sees that some words were very purposefully crossed out with pen, about twenty times, and he wonders what was so desperately worth hiding. There are plenty of complimentary words still remaining. He figures he'll look at the paper a little more closely when he has some time later (which he will admit comes partially from curiosity, because it's hardly a requirement of the job to attempt to make out words that the patient clearly doesn't want you to see). For now he focuses on the parts of the list which Derek didn't feel the need to eliminate. The dislikes are repeats of what they've already said for the most part, although he sees a lot about images and perceptions and thinks he might come back to that. He looks ahead to the likes and notes that several on his list are exclusively about their relationship, a relationship that Derek evidently doesn't see as bad. Most interestingly, he finds the overarching problem with their relationship, the arguing, a positive. This doesn't really shock him. He thinks most of the time their bickering is good natured enough, even if Casey wouldn't openly admit it he notices her smirking at him and that she never really seems off put by his presence. He thinks it's the underlying problems with their relationship, which he hasn't quite figured out yet, that sometimes come out in their taunts and leave them with hurt feelings.

He switches to Casey's list, folding it open and reading, "Selfish," across the page from, "His relationship with his family". Then, "arrogant" and "fun", "doesn't take things seriously" and "passionate", "poor table manners", "engaging", "messy". Finally he reads "Unapologetic" which is on the like side, rather than the dislikes where he'd assume it to be. She clearly has complaints about the boy, probably warranted, but Casey doesn't just like some things about Derek, she likes him. He notes that interestingly several of her points are seemingly contradictory, and he realizes that Derek Venturi might be more complicated than he'd thought. It also means that Casey knows him well enough to see some distinction between the similar words when applied to Derek.

When he was halfway through her list he heard the sharp snap of the elastic band and a colourful expletive. He ignores them, finishing the list and considering the best course of action for the troublesome pair.

They triumphantly announce their success and he nods, then tells them that they can separate their wrists, because puzzlingly they hadn't gotten around to that yet. He thinks he sees Casey blush a little.

"Alright, I have an idea. We're gonna go across the street," Dr. M remarks. He stands from his chair and walks to the shelf at the back of the room to grab a few items.

"Felid trip!" Derek says with mock enthusiasm, standing up and looking to Casey with a grin.

"Goody" she replies, still seated, watching Derek's bouncy restlessness until Dr. M faces them again and motions for them to follow.

They walk across the road to a park and approach a shiny new playground. Derek and Casey glance at each other and share a confused look.

"We appreciate the gesture and all, but I think we're a little too old for this kind of reward." Derek says, but Dr. M simply hands him a blindfold and ignores his comment.

"First handcuffs and now this. There's some weird shit happening here today." He says, but puts it on anyway.

"Alright. So after watching you complete the puzzle I can see that you need to focus a little more on listening to each other." He says, only to be met with Casey's objection.

"We finished the puzzle fairly quickly." She argues.

"Yes," he concedes, because she's right, but they finished the puzzle wordlessly. Not silently, mind you, because they continued to argue and taunt each other the entire time, but their success came from a shared physicality, not from discussion. He doesn't think there's anything wrong with that inherently, it was actually quite impressive. "But, your communication is lacking." He notes. "In this exercise you'll take turns wearing the blindfold and the other will verbally guide you across the playground according to my silent directions. This leaves you no choice but to talk and listen," He explains.

"Alrighty. Lets go." Derek says, his eyes already covered. Clearly he has no trust issues, or just a complete lack of fear.

Dr. M points to a set of monkey bars and Casey shakes her head at him while Derek taps his foot. Dr. M simply points again, and Casey sighs before beginning her instruction.

To her immense surprise Derek listens well and makes it across the monkey bars, with his legs bent at the knees to keep his feet from touching the ground, without any trouble. At the end he gets a little cocky and does some chin ups on the bar, which she tells him to stop, but is also surprised by his athleticism.

Her admiration ends immediately when Derek comments, "Don't worry case, you can check me out, I won't ever know." Dr. M also notes it's not a very sibling-y thing to say.

She leads him across a little bridge and down a slide, according to Dr. M's instruction. On the last obstacle, when Casey tries to weave Derek through a set of raised stepping stones, she sees a familiar face leaving the ice cream store across the street, Truman. It's not like she cares or anything, but he is with a blonde cheerleader she recognizes from school. She's pretty sure that Derek dated her for a week or so, which she thinks makes it even weirder. While she's momentarily distracted Derek attempts to continue the task, and swiftly falls overtop of one of the stones. Casey yelps and rushes to his side, her hand on his shoulder as he groans and then swears.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" She asks him, her hand running along his arm thoughtlessly. Dr. M watches the touching.

"That's what I get for letting klutzilla lead me around." He remarks pulling the blindfold off and pulling himself up from the ground. She's still standing right beside him, still touching him, her anxious eyes locked on his face. "I'm fine." He concedes. Anything to make her stop staring at him like that.

She continues to apologize and when Derek rolls his eyes at her he hands her the blindfold.

"Your turn." He tells her, and Dr. M thinks he should be a little more involved in facilitating this activity, but they are always so self-contained.

While she doesn't look towards him he tells her to climb to the top of the playground before putting the blindfold on.

Casey does as she's told and assesses everything around her before slowly sliding the blindfold over her eyes. It's darker than she thought it would be, but there's a little slice of vision at the very bottom if she concentrates, not that she's going to cheat, it's just good to know in case of an emergency.

"Okay, so turn to the left until I say stop." Derek begins and she turns extremely slowly until he tells her to stop. Then he directs her forward a handful of steps, it would only have been about 2 normal steps but she's shuffling her feet in these tiny annoying barely existent movements forward. They reach a pole that Casey is supposed to slide down and Derek has gravitated to the bottom of it. When he tells her what she's supposed to do she freezes and shakes her head.

"Nope." She says stubbornly, standing right there.

"Would you just trust me?" he snaps, angry that she seems to be under the impression that he wants her to fall to her death. He doesn't, and he would never let that happen.

"Do you think I'd have gotten up here at all if I didn't trust you?" she growls at him, her arms out and waving back and forth slowly trying to assess her surroundings.

And Derek smiles a small, soft and honest smile. Casey misses it, but Dr. M doesn't, even though he swiftly shakes it off and yells back, "Quit whining then princess!" He stands at the bottom, watching intensely in case she slips or there's a misstep, but she listens to him carefully and reaches the bottom safely. She pulls off her blindfold surprised to see him standing only a foot away from her and a smile pulls at her lips. He wastes no time in teasing her though and it's long gone before they reach the door of the building.

"Let's talk a bit about that exercise. How did you find it?" Dr. M asks they once they're back in the office.

"Scary." Casey says and Derek chuckles at her.

"Derek?" Dr. M asks, looking for some kind of insight to his actions on the playground.

"It was fine, other than Casey letting me fall." He jokes, and it's clear that there aren't going to be any breakthroughs today.

"I said I was sorry a million times." Casey whines.

"I know. But I'd like to hold this over you for at least as long as it takes for the bruises to fade." He replies, smirking at her per usual.

"So in addition to this being about your communication, it's also about trust, as you both mentioned out there. Who else would you trust to take part in this exercise with you?" Dr. M tries to steer the conversation again.

"Anyone in our family. Except Edwin. Or Marti." Casey adds after thinking it though.

"So my siblings." Derek says with a look of annoyance clear on his face. It's not that he really wants to be one big happy family, no he doesn't want that at all, but he thought they were closer than that.

"It's not like that, it's just, would you let Edwin guide you?" she tries to explain, noticing that he actually looks offended.

"No, but he'd let me walk into things on purpose, if I hadn't properly threatened him first that is. But I'd trust Marti with anything." Derek argues, and she knows he's telling the truth. Derek would let Marti do just about anything she wanted, including perform a total makeover including heavy use of Casey's eye shadow and lipsticks.

"It's not a reflection of my trust for them. I do trust them, it's just I think Edwin would be terrible at this and Marti, well she's always kind of in her own little world. Maybe in a couple years, when she matures, or does whatever it is you Venturi's do in lieu of maturing." She tells him with a slight smile playing on her lips. He huffs at her, but it's more of a laugh than a complaint, and replies, "Well I can't speak for all of us, especially not Edwin, but I chose become awesome."

"Is that what you call it?" she asks, pleased that their easy banter has returned, "And do you really think you want your baby sister following in your drinking, partying, philandering footsteps?"

He pauses briefly, imagining Marti partaking in the things he likes to do when the parents are too scattered to notice him. He shudders at the thought of his Smarti as a teenager, certain that she's going to be trouble, and wishing that she weren't quite so much like him. It wouldn't hurt her if she'd picked up a few things from Casey over the years, like the value of doing well in school or the words Casey speaks about men respecting women, even if she can't seem to follow her own advice. What he says is, "On second thought I suppose she could become a boring responsible MacDonald girl."

"Alright, I think we'll wrap it up there." Dr. M decides, allowing them to leave on this note of Derek openly admitting to recognizing some kind of value in Casey's traits. It's not that he thinks that's a rare occurrence, based on the list and his two weeks of knowing the boy he's certain he thinks mostly complimentarily of her, but he doesn't say it. This is for Casey's benefit, hopefully sparking some kind of realization. Before they sit on it for too long he continues, "So for this week's homework, I want you two to talk more."

"I'm pretty sure that's the last thing anyone in our house wants." Derek remarked.

"I said talk, not argue." Dr. M comments, receiving a small smirk from Derek.

"They're synonymous for us." Casey supplied but he just shook his head at them.

"And that's the problem. There's nothing wrong with a little bit of healthy debate," he said, looking pointedly at Derek, referencing his list and making him look away, "but you need to be able to talk amicably as well. This exercise was a fun way to force communication, but I'd like to have you two interact more casually. So this week I want you two to sit down, somewhere neutral, maybe outside the house, and talk for half an hour." He concluded.

"What would we talk about for that long? We have nothing in common." Casey asked and Dr. M looked at her critically. He highly doubted this. He wondered if she was actually this oblivious or if she was just insistent on maintaining this façade of indifference and abhorrence. Derek wondered the same thing.

"I'm sure you'll find something to talk about." He remarked with a smile before sending them on their way.


	5. Chapter 5

_Here's chapter 5! As_ usual _it took way longer to get this posted than I had hoped, sorry! Everyone is eagerly waiting for Dr. M to address the elephant in the room, and I promise it's coming. This chapter is a little unrelated, but lots of fun._

 _According to the reviews (Which totally make my day! Thank you so much!) everyone is eagerly waiting for Dr. M to address the elephant in the room, and I promise it's coming. This chapter is a little unrelated but lots of fun, if you like Dasey squabbling (Don't we all?) Enjoy and send me your thoughts_!

* * *

He's sitting in his chair, sort of watching a movie when he hears soft footsteps on the stairs behind him. He knows it's Casey. Marti's asleep, Edwin lacks any grace at all, and Lizzie normally takes the steps two at a time. Still, he turns around before asking, "Did you wanna get our homework over with?"

"Now?" she says, surprise and guilt in her voice.

"Yeah." He says, adding a noncommittal shrug.

"Um, I can't. I'm actually just on my way out" she tells him as she stands near the front door, lingering.

"At 9pm? Isn't it past your self-imposed bedtime? I mean, you can only resist your footy pajamas for so long, right?" he taunts, but he notices she isn't in pajamas. She's wearing a simple blue dress that brushes the middle of her thighs. When she huffs in response and moves to put her coat on the material catches and for a moment the hem is slipping higher up her leg. He looks back up to her face before she notices his gaze has drifted.

"So where are you going?" he asks, casually, wondering if it just comes off as nosy.

"One of my co-workers asked if I wanted to go out for coffee." She says, trying to make it seem ordinary and entirely not worth him pestering her about, but that simply isn't possible.

"A male coworker?" he inquires, certain the answer is yes before she growls back "does it matter?"

"No. It's perfectly predictable. Honestly I'm impressed that this chastity vow lasted a whole two weeks." He says, knowing it's going to frustrate her.

"It's not a chastity vow, Derek. I'm not having sex with him anyway, I'm having coffee." She snaps.

He can't stop himself from pushing, "but you are going on a date."

"No, it's not a date either. We're friends. Men and women can be friends, you know. I mean those of us who are evolved anyway. You wouldn't understand." She replied haughtily.

He ignored her insult and continued with his own, asking, "Do you honestly think it's not a date or are you just embarrassed that you can't survive without a guy fawning over you?"

"It's not a date." She reaffirmed and he rolled his eyes at her.

"Alright, so are you 20$ certain that it's not a date?" he challenged and she stared at him in disbelief.

"You wanna bet on me?" she exclaimed, looking distinctly unimpressed.

"On him, actually. But I need a bit more information first, like how old is he? What's his name? Is he in school?" Derek shoots off a series of questions.

"You want me to give you stats on my friend?" Casey asked, and he thought she looked suspicious.

"Well it'd be irresponsible of me not to be informed." He says. Her eyes narrow and he knows she's fallen into the game.

"Duke, 20, he goes to Queens." She remarks quickly and succinctly. Derek doesn't think he'll get anything else out of her, but it's enough.

"Duke? Really? God, he sounds like a dick already. The trust fund kind, maybe a lacrosse player, it's good of you to branch out since you've already done hockey and football." Derek quickly assesses the guy, as annoyingly as possible, but it hardly takes any effort on his part.

"I haven't 'done' those." She says pointedly, which is a relief to Derek, but his eyebrows raise in surprise.

"Not what I meant at all, but I like your thinking." He says before continuing with his analysis. "He's 20 and goes to uni, so he drinks, which you don't like."

"I don't like it when you drink," She points out, but again he ignores her, even though he's wondering why she's so especially concerned with what he does.

"And he must be decently attractive, so he's definitely had his fair share of sex. Probably casual feeling-less just for fun sex."

"You don't know if he's attractive. And not everyone attractive goes sleeping around Derek, no need to project." She snaps, but she realizes quickly that her retort has gone terribly wrong.

He doesn't hesitate to point it out.

"I'm not saying he's as good looking as me, thank you for noticing by the way," He says, and he wonders if she'd meant it or if she'd simply misspoken, but he carries on quickly before she can deny it regardless. "He just must be decent looking, or he wouldn't have had the nerve to ask you out." He says, and he realizes he may have just made the exact same mistake in his haste. He continues to talk before Casey gains the nerve to confront him. She never does. She'd never want to make this uncomfortable, or honest. "So based on the facts I bet that before the night is over he makes a move."

"Define a move." She says, setting rules and parameters for this foolish game.

"He'll try to kiss you." Derek simplifies the concept as much as possible.

"You're on." She grins at him, as if she thinks she's going to win. Short of her pulling some kind of klutzilla wipe out or emotional breakdown, he knows she's going to lose.

"Report back when you get home, if you get home." He says, hoping that if anything could prevent her from sleeping with a guy it'd be her desire to prove him wrong.

"Of course I'll be home, I'm not you." She growls, swiftly making her way out the door and slamming it behind her.

He looks at the door, even though the commercials are over and the movie is on again, staring at the spot where she was just standing. He hates that he can't make her stay. He wishes there was something he could say, anything he could do, but he's pretty certain that there's not. He can't change their situation, he can't change that their parents are married or that she's supposed to be his sister. Instead of waiting up for her, to face the inevitable (because he knows how guys his age think when they are dealing with a girl like her), he goes upstairs to his room, putting on his headphones and turning up the music extra loud to drown out his thoughts.

* * *

When she gets to Smelly Nelly's, which Duke had suggested, not her, she's still thinking of what Derek said. She tries to push his words out of her mind, she tries not to think of him at all, but this place has lingering memories of Derek all over it. She walks through the front entrance, where she'd been fired and Derek followed after her thoughtlessly. She sees Duke sitting at a booth and remembers sitting here giving Lizzie boy advice while Derek gave her date advice, like makeshift parents.

She greets him with a sweet smile and he smiles back, charmingly. For a minute she can forget about Derek. They chit chat about how she's finding the job and he tells her a bit of office gossip, the kind to help her fit in a little more. Then the server appears at the table, and to her immense shock, it's Sally. She's the starkest reminder of Derek. She reminds her of love songs that Derek wouldn't sing and quick glances. She supposes she must have come home for the summer. She wonders if Derek knows she's here? Probably not, or he would have told her, right? Hadn't he been here just the other day?

"Sally! It's so good to see you!" She exclaims, hoping to come off as familiarly friendly, not shocked and a bit anxious about her reappearance in their lives. Her life.

"Casey, didn't think I'd see you back here. I'm pretty sure Derek isn't welcome, we're still under the same management." She jokes, which makes Casey wonder how unpleasant his parting from the restaurant had been. It was probably tactless and certainly impulsive, very Derek.

"Well, I'm Derek free." She notes pointedly, it's not as if they are attached at the hip. She doesn't ever spend time with him voluntarily. That much. Unless he really needs her help, and then she's obligated to, isn't she? So it's not voluntary.

"Right, of course." Sally says, peaking over at the boy sitting across from her. Her voice is oddly strained, fake, and Casey's not sure what that's supposed to mean, but then sally continues on with a waitress smile "What can I get you two?"

Duke orders and then motions to Casey, who just gets a coffee.

When she leaves he asks who Derek is, of course, and she tells him he's her stepbrother, whom sally had dated. Any uncomfortable-ness is gone with that explanation. So they carry on, and he tells her about his university, since she's planning to go there in the fall. He tells her about the worst profs, the best pizza, the craziest parties, and the cheapest drinks. He's perfectly nice. Not the kind of guy she plans to end up with, but the kind of guy she'd go on a second date with. Not that this was a date.

He walks her to her car and when she stops to say good bye he leans in and kisses her. And she kisses him back, but she's thinking "damn it, Derek's right".

He says that he'll see her at work, and she waves to him from inside her car as he walks back down the road.


End file.
